


big brother instincts activated

by CharlotteDaBookworm



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, And a little bit of, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Fluff, Gen, Happy, Light Angst, Nyx is Weak to kids, Nyx: meets Noctis, Nyx: well i guess i have a little brother now, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, but mostly - Freeform, ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-09-25
Packaged: 2020-10-28 03:24:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20771741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharlotteDaBookworm/pseuds/CharlotteDaBookworm
Summary: Nyx sees a small child, alone and unhappy. Nyx is also a total big brother....you can probably guess how this goes





	big brother instincts activated

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own FFXV

* * *

Nyx Ulric was not lost.

He could orientate himself in even the thickest of jungles, he could trace his way home from the bottom of a canon, he could travel from island to island with nothing but the stars and a compass. Nyx hadn’t been lost since he was a small child, separated from his mother in bustling market streets, and his sense of direction never failed. He wouldn’t let a mere building defeat him.

He was _not-_

And then he turned around another corner into yet _another_ winding corridor that looked exactly the same as the last dozen he’d walked through had and Nyx had to admit it to himself.

He was lost.

With a snarl, he spun around; trying to find some hint in black marble and gold etchings and ostentatious architecture that would guide him back to the entrance, trying to find some difference.

There was none.

He hated the Citadel.

He hated the cold stone and high ceilings and posh accents and echoing sounds, he hated the winding paths and the way that everything looked exactly the same and how dry the air was. He hated how different it was from home.

(How he missed rich dirt beneath his nails and sea-salt on the wind and the sun shining through thick foliage, how he missed the rains and the winds and firelight and song in the village square)

But, most of all, he hated that he was _lost._

Ifrit embrace it, he hated being lost.

Crowe was going to laugh at him when - if - he ever made it out of this gods-damned maze. Libs wouldn’t, at least not until he’d gotten Nyx drunk first; his brother knew _why_ Nyx hated being lost, unlike Crowe.

Angry and irritated and vulnerable - and angry and irritated and hating that he was feeling _vulnerable_ in a place he didn’t know and didn’t like - Nyx took another corner randomly, stalking down the corridor without any care for directions or turns or anything but the anger - fear - warming his veins.

_Storms above,_ he growled to himself, _how difficult is it to provide a **map?**_

He understood the security concerns but he spent more time on deployment and on Wall Duty than in the Citadel proper and _all these corridors looked the same._

Turning into yet another corridor, he came to a stop - baring his teeth at a plant that he was pretty sure was from Duscae and was almost certain he’d passed by a half hour ago.

Which meant that he’d probably passed through this _corridor_ a half hour ago.

His eye twitched.

His hands shook.

_If I’ve been walking in **circles** for the last hour I am actually going to kill someone,_ he thought murderously, smiling widely at the plant.

The plant glinted in the light.

Nyx took a deep breath.

He stepped away from the plant and purposefully turned left at the portrait of some important person he didn’t care about.

Then he took a right.

And then another left.

And a right.

And a left.

His eye twitching all the while, he continued his march through the Citadel corridors, almost certain he was somehow heading deeper into it - based on the age of the portraits he was passing - but at least it wasn’t_ walking in circles._

Six, he hated this place.

It was so _empty,_ even when full of people.

How anyone could stand to work here day-in, day-out - or, Ramuh forbid, _live here_ \- he didn’t know. It would drive him insane.

Give him Wall duty any day.

Blindly, glaring at the stone at his feet, he turned another corner only to have to swerve to the side to avoid crashing into someone.

His head shot up, glare still in place, to stare at who it was he’d nearly hit, angry words on the tip of his tongue-

Nyx froze.

The words died on his tongue, his anger tempered, his glare fading immediately to concern.

Because the kid (the _prince_) was giving him a look he recognised from the first time he’d met Crowe - that same lifted chin and closed off face and the eyes that _screamed_ ‘I don’t want to care but I do’ - and his eyes were the sort of red-rimmed that were caused by tears, not by nights spent playing or training instead of sleeping (and Nyx could recognise that, he knew the difference, Selena had never been one to talk about her nightmares, had tried to pretend the redness was from sneaking out instead of crying, but he’d always _known_).

_Had he always looked so small?_ He wondered, because the kid was nearly drowning in his dark clothes despite them being tailored to fit perfectly.

_Had he always looked so **alone?**_ He asked himself as the kid looked down and away, obviously expecting Nyx to walk away without a single word to him. The kid- Noctis had a look he’d seen on a few of the village kids, before he’d dragged them off to help with whatever he and Libs had planned, the look of someone who was used to the world passing by without them because nobody _cared._

No kid should ever feel like that.

“Sorry kiddo,” he said with a smile, gently irreverent. “I should’ve been looking where I was going,” he laughed, keeping his body language open and casual.

The ki- Noctis smiled back at him hesitantly, like he couldn’t believe Nyx wasn’t either bowing and scraping or straight out ignoring him.

Nyx felt the overwhelming urge to just wrap the k- Noctis in blankets and feed him hot chocolate and biscuits and keep him safe from everything and everyone. Instead, he smiled a little wider, crouching down to Noctis’ level. “I never did learn to pay attention to where I was walking, I’m always crashing into things - I fell over so many times as a kid ‘cos of that; they even started putting bets on it back home.”

A bright, stolen laugh came from the little prince who tried to stifle it behind his hands and Nyx felt his choice snap into place before he could even think about it as his instincts flared high and strong.

_Well,_ he thought with all the casualness of someone this happened semi-regularly to, _I guess I have a little brother now._

_Fuck_, Libs was going to laugh at him so hard.

He wasn’t really sure if he cared.

“I’m Nyx,” he told the kid who had just settled into place beside Libs and Crowe <strike>and Selena</strike> as someone he wanted to take care of and protect.

“Noctis,” was whispered in return, with the most adorable little wave Nyx had ever seen - just as adorable as Selena’s fist pump when she was this age.

“It’s nice to meet you Noct!"

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> _yeets Nyx being a total big brother at y'all_


End file.
